SPLM-IO faction says no official information about visit of former detainees to Pagak

June 5, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudan’s armed opposition faction of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) led by former vice president, Riek Machar, said they have not received any official information about the published visit of the former detainees to their leadership for consultations on reunification process of the ruling party.

Former political detainees led by ex-cabinet affairs minister, Deng Alor Kuol, met with president Salva Kiir on Tuesday in Juba a day after their return from the neighbouring Kenya where they were released to in early 2014 and lived in the exile for over one year.

The mission, they said, was to revive the tripartite intraparty dialogue with the government which also included the SPLM-IO faction as per Arusha initiative on reunification of the three party factions.

Former detainees’ spokesperson, John Luk Jok, after concluding the meeting with president Kiir and other senior party leaders in the government, announced that their team was also going to visit the opposition leader, Riek Machar, to discuss the process.

However, the rebel group said they did not receive from the former detainees any official information about their visit to Machar.

“Our leadership has not received official information or request about a planned visit by former detainees. We only read about it in the media,” Machar’s spokesman, James Gatdet Dak, told Sudan Tribune on Friday.

He also said the opposition faction had an appointed team by Machar that handled the intraparty negotiations in Arusha and would likely take part in the consultative meeting with the former detainees if official request reached the SPLM-IO and was approved by the top leadership.

Dak earlier said the rebel leadership would be willing to accord the ex-political detainees a forum to hear from them.

(ST)